Mysore/Mysuru: India’s defence budget is 5th largest defence budget in the world, said P.G. Yogindra, former Executive Director, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Delivering the inaugural address during the two-day 7th international conference on ‘Economic Growth and Sustainable Development: Emerging Trends organised by Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara Institute for Management Development (SDM-IMD) at its auditorium here recently, he said “India is having strongest military forces in the world and holds a place of strategic importance. It is also the largest importer of arms and defence platforms; it is likely to accelerate with rising concerns of national security. By 2025, India  will have third largest air traffic (including domestic and international) which is growing at a rate of 14 percent per year over the last 6 years.”

Speaking about ‘Make in India,’ Yogindra said, “The target of Make in India scheme is to increase growth in manufacturing sector to 12 to 14 per annum over the medium term, to raise contribution of the manufacturing sector to 25 percent of gdp which is currently 16 percent, to create 100 million additional jobs by 2022 in manufacturing sector, to increase domestic value addition and technological depth in manufacturing sector, to start with targets of 25 sectors of the economy, ranging from automobile to information technology and business process management.”

Regarding Government initiatives through Atmanirbhar Bharat, he said the scheme is to make the country and its citizen independent and self-reliant in all senses; self-reliance prepares country for tough competition in the global supply chain to win competition, focused not only on self-reliance in production but also on establishing the strategic alliances for production. Defence Ministry has identified 101 items under import embargo and planned for further more items to boost indigenous manufacture of military hardware including aerospace products.”

“MSME is the backbone of the Indian economy,  a considerable contribution to GDP, exports and employment generations which contributes about 30 percent to GDP. It is targeted to increase GDP contribution upto 50 percent by 2025 as India moves ahead to become a 5 trillion economy. There is also a significant opportunity for MSMEs in the aerospace sector through collaboration or partnership,” added Yogindra.

Abhishek Kumar Jain, General Manager, Investor Relations and Treasury at Wipro Limited, delivered the keynote address while N.R. Parasuraman, Director, SDM-IMD, delivered the introductory address. Venkatraja, Conference Chairperson, was also present. During the two-day conference, more than 100 papers were presented.  Proceedings of the Conference was also released on the occasion.